“That Was a Good Drum Break:” Beck - Odelay Deluxe Edition
I bought the Beck deluxe edition of Odelay yesterday. Without re-reviewing an album that’s universally embraced as a classic, let me just say I had a lot of fun remembering why I like this record so much. To borrow from an old commercial: the question isn’t is this album good enough for deluxe treatment, the question is deluxe treatment good enough for this album. I always hated those commercials, by the way. Fuck, I hope I’m capable of paying for and eating a box of Grape Nuts. What if the clerk slaps my hand and takes them away from me? Do they have practice tests?
Back to TheBeck. Let’s talk about the deluxe edition.
First off, they didn’t remaster the record. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. The album was immaculately shaped, crafted, and manicured in the studio by Beck and The Dust Brothers. It still sounds damn good as is. Why fuck with a good thing? That said, it probably could have been updated a little and improved upon without fucking up what was good about it in the first place.
The liner notes blow. There’s some gimmick in there where they interviewed high schoolers about Beck and Odelay. I’m sure that’s hilarious to somebody. Introduce me to them so I can give them a cockpunch. This is dumb and insulting. Thurston Moore writes a short essay and the lyrics are reprinted. Those are your liner notes. Ho hum. For my $20 and second copy of the album, I think Beck or the Dust Bros. could have found 15 minutes to dash off something for this. Maybe I’m wrong.
The 19 new and rare songs have some good moments. This is really where the package excels. Three remixes, two previously unreleased songs, one song from a soundtrack, and 13 b-sides. That doesn’t suck. Are all 19 of these songs winners? No, but it’s hard to say that 19 rare/new songs aren’t a pretty good value for the money when attached to this classic album.
I wish they’d taken a little more care in assembling the package, but music is what matters and that’s the strength of this package.
Filed under: Beck
That title would make a good iPhone ringtone.
Actually, there have been a number of minor changes. If you want to see some examples, go check out the Beck forum on stewoo.net–people have been posting things like “Hmm, he changed the vocal track on that…” and “He shortened that,” etc.
Beth, thanks for posting that comment and link. I appreciate it. That’s pretty interesting. It’s going to make me bust out my original Odelay and compare those original recordings to what he put on the deluxe edition.
How strange to touch certain aspects up but not remaster the record. Interesting.
Sahm, you know it. I might have to have me one of those.